As you can see by this article on St. Silverius that Empress Theodora had more power than the Pope and this is in 536. So you can see why the Popes had to take stronger measures to better arm themselves to defend Rome.
In Christ, Joseph

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894], at sacred-texts.com

June 20.—ST. SILVERIUS, Pope and Martyr.

SILVERIUS was son of Pope Hermisdas, who had been married before he entered the ministry. Upon the death of St. Agapetas, after a vacancy of forty-seven days, Silverius, then subdeacon, was chosen Pope, and ordained on the 8th of June, 536. Continue reading →

Prosecutors said Friday they are investigating a Spanish archbishop for possible criminal hate speech because of remarks he made recently about the gay community.

The Valencia’s provincial prosecutor’s office said it was studying a recent speech made by Valencia Archbishop Antonio Canizares in which he said “powers such as the gay empire” promoted the rise of movements against the Christian family.

Canizares also hit out at feminists and gender ideology.

The remarks raised much criticism and a regional LGBT group and 50 other groups filed a complaint. MORE

Middle schooler gets a standing ovation for his graduation speech impersonating Donald J. Trump – During his 8-minute speech, Jack impersonated Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz, President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

A record-breaking heat wave coming to the West Coast could bring major flight delays with it, 9News reported.

Temperatures in Phoenix are expected to come close to the all-time high of 122 degrees on Sunday and Monday for the first time since 1990, 9News said. Temperatures in Denver are expected to linger near the low 100s. Planes have issues operating at such temperatures, as wings and engines tend to struggle during take-off, NBC aviation analyst Gregory Feith told 9News. VIDEO

“Reliable intelligence sources in the West have indicated that warnings had been received that the Russian Government could in the near future release the text of email messages intercepted from U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private e-mail server from the time she was U.S. Secretary of State. The release would, the messaging indicated, prove that Secretary Clinton had, in fact, laid open U.S. secrets to foreign interception by putting highly-classified Government reports onto a private server in violation of U.S. law, and that, as suspected, the server had been targeted and hacked by foreign intelligence services.”  MORE

A senior defense ministry official says that the next confrontation with Hamas in Gaza will be the last — because after that, Hamas will cease to be a ruling power in Gaza.

According to the source, Israel is not interested in a confrontation and the IDF will not engage in a “war by choice,” but at the end of the day, a clash with Hamas is inevitable.

In a press briefing, the senior defense official termed Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is the central problem Israel is dealing with. MORE

In a surprising move First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Humam Hamoudi announced that his country is determined to sue Israel for bombing the Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hamoudi said: “Iraq is determined to sue Israel for bombing the nuclear reactor and force it to pay reparations for this attack,” without specifying when it will take such a measure. MORE

Scientists have issued a grave warning to a small Texas community home to two growing sinkholes. MORE

Numerous liberty movement analysts and proponents, myself included, have been warning about 2016 and the heightened potential for multiple terrorist events.  I have written extensively on the history of ISIS, its proven ties to western governments and the disturbing program to forcefully inject millions of Islamic refugees into western nations in the name of dubious “multiculturalism,” allowing thousands of potential terrorists into our borders without obstruction.  MORE

Transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox earned her second straight win on Saturday, when she TKO’d Tamikka Brents in the first round at a Capital City Cage Wars event in Springfield, Illinois. Brents reportedly suffered a concussion and a broken orbital bone during the two-minute beatdown, and required seven staples in her head. MORE

A former classmate of Omar Mateen’s 2006 police academy class said he believed Mateen was gay, saying Mateen once asked him out.

Officials say Mateen shot and killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning.

The classmate said that he, Mateen and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen asked him out romantically. MORE

The Greek government will soon officially recognize the state of Palestine, the country’s ruling Syriza party told Palestinian lawmakers on Saturday, the Palestinian Legislative Council said in a statement.

According to Palestinian news agency Ma’an, the Greek pledge came during a meeting between a Syriza delegation and Palestinian MPs in Ramallah, although no specific time frame for the recognition was provided. MORE

June 13th – Saint Anthony Of Padua  My Son’s birthday. Were both born on the 13th

By the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)

Today is the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, called “Ark of the Covenant” for his profound knowledge of Scriptures and “Hammer of Heretics” for his skill in applying that knowledge in polemics. It is customary in the churches of many Western nations to place the statue of St. Anthony in a special place of honor to be venerated by the faithful on his feast day. Continue reading →

In the 11^th century, the Catholic forebears of Father Bassam Saade and the Orthodox predecessors of Father Joshua had a falling out so seismic it became known as “the great schism.”

Excommunications and strongly worded parchments flew back and forth. The dust of an Orthodox church was symbolically shaken off a papal representative’s feet. The resulting divide between the two churches has persisted for the better part of a millennium. MORE